


Coping

by ericsonclan



Series: OG World [53]
Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Blood, Blood and Violence, Coping, Corpses, Death, Drawing, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Guilt, Lies, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:01:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26620318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ericsonclan/pseuds/ericsonclan
Summary: Marlon comes across Tenn drawing a peculiar subject.
Relationships: Minerva & Sophie & Tenn (Walking Dead: Done Running), Minerva & Sophie (Walking Dead: Done Running)
Series: OG World [53]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1815361
Comments: 3
Kudos: 6





	Coping

**Author's Note:**

> (by Laura)

“Hey Tenn, whatcha got there?” Marlon asked as he walked toward the younger boy who was sitting at the picnic tables.

Tennessee looked up from his paper and crayons, giving Marlon a soft smile. “Hey, Marlon. Just working on a drawing,”

“Oh, can I see?” Marlon glanced down only for his eyes to widen in horror and his face to fall as he saw the subject of the drawing. It was Sophie and Minnie, dead and bloody, their bodies sprawled across the ground. To see such a thing in any form was frightening, but to see it drawn in crayon by a child, by their own brother… Marlon cleared his throat roughly. He’d have to tread carefully here. He didn’t want to say anything that might hurt Tenn or let it slip that the contents of that drawing were a falsehood. 

Before he could say anything further though, Tenn spoke up. “I guess it’s sort of weird, huh? Brody saw me working on it earlier on the stairs of the admin building and it made her really sad. That’s why I moved over here – to make sure she doesn’t accidentally see it again,”

Shit, Brody. The only other person who could let the truth slip out. It had been about six months since they had run into those raiders and been forced to give them the twins. Brody had been a nervous wreck ever since. Sometimes she would wake up in the night screaming, saying they were coming for her. Marlon would always rush to her side in those moments. On the outside it might appear that he was comforting her, but Marlon knew with a sick certainty that he was always the first there to make sure Brody didn’t tell the others that it wasn’t the walkers she feared but the raiders.

“Marlon?” Tenn’s voice broke him out of his thoughts. “Are you sad too now? I’m sorry if the drawing upset you.

“It’s not that, it’s just… doesn’t seeing them like that make _you_ sad too, Tenn? I would’ve thought you’d do anything possible to never think about that day,”

Tennessee shrugged. “Even if I didn’t think about it, that wouldn’t mean it didn’t happen. Drawing it helps it feel more real. It helps me realize that they won’t come walking through the gates again. I know it’s been a while now, but sometimes I need reminding of that,”

Marlon put a hand on Tennessee’s shoulder, feeling utterly lost. How could you comfort someone for deaths you knew never happened? At the same time, maybe by now those deaths were a reality. That woman, Lilly, had said her people needed soldiers for a war. Any war was bound to bring casualties. It could be that by now, after all these months of hiding the truth from the other kids, that this picture was in fact the only truth that remained. Marlon took a seat beside Tenn, his legs suddenly feeling heavy. 

“Would you like to draw too?” Tenn offered. Marlon took the paper and crayons with a faint smile. It was a habit of Tenn’s, inviting others to draw even if they didn’t have a lick of talent. By now he’d accumulated a stash of drawings by all of them, some of the best displayed proudly on his walls. Seeing Marlon with a given task, Tenn seemed satisfied and resumed his drawing. The particular red crayon he was using was only a nub at this point. It made Marlon wonder if this wasn’t the first time Tennessee had depicted such gruesome subject matter.

Marlon found himself unsure of what to draw. He couldn’t draw humans for shit and there wasn’t anything else in particular that came to mind. Glancing up at the sky, he caught sight of the Ericson flag, an old t-shirt flapping proudly in the wind on this breezy morning. That was it. He could draw the school. Buildings were just a series of straight lines, right? He could handle that. Grabbing up a brown crayon, Marlon set to work outlining the frame of the main building.

As he worked, Marlon noticed Tenn was still focused on the details of his gruesome illustration. Tenn glanced over, seeing Marlon’s interest. “I don’t know how long you and Brody stuck around when it happened. You guys don’t talk about that day much so I’m not sure if this is how it really went,” He’d given a neck wound to Sophie while Minnie was bleeding from her side. Their skin had been colored as well, a sickly gray. Marlon realized with horror that Tenn hadn’t simply drawn their corpses, he’d drawn them in the midst of turning. The thought made Marlon feel as though he’d be sick.

The truth was he remembered that day in excruciating detail. The way his hands had trembled from having his bow drawn for such a long time, knowing if he fired a single arrow it would mean his own death. Sophie pinned to the ground, a boot on her back while the sleazy man held Minnie in place by a fistful of her hair. Brody’s presence behind him, utterly helpless to stop the horrible things happening before her very eyes. He hadn’t had a choice. It was two right then or all of them. If he was taken, Marlon had known they’d break him, hurt him until he gave up the location of the school. He couldn’t let that happen. He’d sacrificed two to save the rest. If it had been the right choice though, why couldn’t he look back on it without feeling his very soul writhe inside him?

“Oh, you’re drawing the school. It looks really good,” Tenn’s voice was so calm, trusting. Marlon couldn’t believe he was sitting here and playing further into the lie he’d woven in the boy’s mind. But he simply kept on going, his body unwilling to do anything else.

“Yeah, I figured it would be easy enough. I guess it’s more complicated than I expected though,”

“Are you going to try to show the broken windows?” Tenn gestured toward one to the far left of the building. “I remember when Sophie broke that one. It was during that soccer game she and Louis put together,”

Marlon remembered. For one glorious day, they had set aside their fears and daily tasks to do the most normal thing ever: play a game. It had been wonderful. Competition between the two teams had been fierce, leading to the broken window Tenn mentioned when a kick by Sophie went wild and flew off toward the school. They continued on after that mishap; no one really cared about broken windows anymore. The game had stopped however when a particularly strong kick by Marlon had sent the soccer ball flying over Ericson’s walls. Mitch had climbed over the wall to retrieve it before anyone could plan a better approach and had almost gotten bitten in the process. After that Marlon made a decision: soccer was banned from the courtyard. It wasn’t worth risking their lives for a simple game. It was an unpopular decision, but the other kids had learned to accept it, the remaining soccer balls being kicked around indoors rather than outside. 

“It was so much fun,” A small smile was upon Tenn’s face. “I’ll never forget that day,” He glanced up at Marlon who was looking at him in confusion. “What?”

“How do you do it? Talk about happy times in the middle of drawing _that_?” Marlon immediately wished he could bite his tongue. It was callous to ask something that personal so bluntly.

Tenn didn’t take offense though; he never did. Instead he sat there thoughtfully, looking at his drawing. “I guess it’s because both are real. They both happened, the good and the bad. It’s nice to remember the happy times, but this helps too,” He fidgeted with the corner of the paper. “It’s not my only drawing. I have lots of them. Happy and sad. I did one a while back of Sophie and Minnie having a fishing contest, just like they used to. Wherever they are now, I bet they’re still doing that. We had to make empty graves though. Drawing how they died, even if it sometimes makes me sad, feels like a good thing. Death isn’t as scary when you know what it looks like. And it’s not like it’s them anymore, just their bodies.

Marlon stared at the child in dumbfounded horror. What could he say in response to that? He wanted to tell Tenn that death was very scary, that it was downright horrifying. But what good would delivering that message do? Right now Tenn was happy or at least as much at peace as anyone could expect. He couldn’t take that away from him, not when he was the reason his sisters were gone. “Wow,” he murmured, looking down at the table. “Guess you’ve thought about this a lot,”

“It’s all I can really do for Minnie and Sophie now – think about them,”

Marlon cleared his through roughly, feeling tears prick the corners of his eyes. “Scuse me, Tenn. There’s something I gotta go do,” Without another word Marlon rose to his feet and walked off. He didn’t dare to look back. He made it just round the corner of the school before he couldn’t hold it back anymore. He puked, his shoulders heaving as his vomit spilled upon the ground. Looking round quickly to make sure no one had seen him, Marlon quickly wiped off his mouth, his hand shaking slightly as he did so. He should go back up to the headmaster’s office and reexamine the map. Look for entry points to the school that needed to be better guarded, maybe draw back the safe zone a bit. He couldn’t risk running into those raiders again. What happened with Sophie and Minnie was a tragedy, one he couldn’t repeat. He couldn’t lose another one of these kids. He’d protect them all or die trying.


End file.
